Loading...
Times-Advocate, 1988-03-09, Page 6Page 6 Times -Advocate, March 9, 1988 tunes 1stablisht•d ItT-1 Acis ut ate 1s tablished 18N1 ma1gantafed 192.1 BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 imes dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at EReter, Ontario, NOM Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519.235.1331 KOSS 841 (.11 Idd(ir HARR1 DI ‘1111S ( (imposition %tanager •CNA CC JIM SI AET1 Publisher & 4d'.ertising Manager DO' SMITH Business %tanager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 Orange. saves lives Compulsory hunter orange clothing is on the.way , but will it come soon enough to save lives this fall in the province of Ontario? The 69,000 member Ontario Federa- tion of Anglers and Hunters welcomed the recent announcement from the Mini- ster of Natural Resources that the orange colours must appear on all clothing worn 'by hunters. The OFAH has promoted hunter safety for more than three decades and has helped make hunting one of the safest of outdoor recreations. In the past few years, the anglers and hunters group has been asking for com- pulsory wearing of hunter orange cloth- ing to make a safe sport even safer. What's in Eyebrows are still raised these days, even in large cities, when a woman is mentioned who has chosen to keep her mai1en name. A sense prevails that she is somehow not proud enough of her hus- band to take his name in marriage, but something should be said in support of these trendsetters in female identity. It was not so long ago that every woman was completely dependent on her hus- band. In fact, she became his virtual property at the altar; hence the stamp of the husband on. -her very name. Today, of course, women are more independent and follow careers of their own of equal, or more importance than their husbands. Many women in our community are still fiercely proud tel be known as "Mrs. John Smith", for example, while many younger wives are annoyed to see mail addressed to them under their husband's name. it's all a question of traditional values. These women who do not change their names for marriage .are simply an- I-Iunter safety training programs have reduced the accident rate remarkably, but hunting accidents still happen every year. In other jurisdictions, the increased visibility in the field created by mandato- ry hunter orange has reduced accidents and it will work in Ontario, too. I-Iunters are prepared to co-operate and hunter orange can save lives this .fall. That is, if. . If the legislation is put into place in time. Let's urge our legislators to be "on target" with the new laws in order when hunters all over the province head out for their favourite pastime of hunting this fall. By Ross Haugh a name other step towards the recognition of the female as a self-contained identity. Some businesswomen with established practices do not wish to lose their clien- tele in the confusion of changing names, but pride is also a factor in here some- where. And who should deny a woman pride in her parent's family? Perhaps a few decades from now, all couples will retain their own names and pass them on to their children as they wish, so that family names will not disap- pear with daughters. It makes sense and the government won't mind; our social insurance numbers are more important to them than our names even today. There will be the inconvenience of not knowing who is married to whom. But in public announcements we can do away with the bracketed maiden names that ap- pear after the married name telling us who the woman really is. By Adrian Haile Olympic reflections Now that the Olympics are over it's perhaps time fbr a little reflec- tion and time to hand out a few roses and to throw a few bricks. A rose to the Calgary money raisers who were able to use the tremendous financial capability of the private sector to finance a great deal of the cost. It never hurt anybody to have Coca-Cola as the official soft drink of the Games but it surely helped the taxpayers' load when it came down to paying for things. A rose to Labatt's for paying the way of Canadian athletes' parents to Calgary and then presenting their commercials in a very tasteful way about what they had done. A lot of those parents would not have been able to af- ford the cost of such a trip after By the 7 Way by • Svd Fletcher footing the hill for all the training of their sons and daughters. A rose to the organizers who had to have spent thousands of hours to make thc events a suc- cess. A brick to the television crew who went back five times to thc Longhorn Bar to catch the boozy comments of some patrons there on the Olympics. Honestly now, that was a little tacky. A brick to the athletes who got caught using drugs to improve their performance. I've got no sympathy for them after their. suspensions. A rose to the athletes who tried their best yet still were not good enough to beat the best in thc world. There's no disgrace in that, for sure. And to those who wcrc the best, I'm sure that it is an honour which they will never forget. The readers write 1)car Sir: 1 am glad to sec and enjoy reading the human interest stories in the - paper, regarding some accomplished local natives, hut feel the coverage should expand to all deserving citi- /cns. One 'such person. not recognited by this paper is Kathy Mustard (nee Rowe), Canada's. top floral design- er. Fortunately for the readers of this paper one of Kathy's sisters-in-law was a news reporter (not for this paper) at that timc,'and submitted an article to you announcing_Ka- 1 thy's upcgming participation in the World Cup. in 1985; Detroit hosted the event, which is on a scale equal to that of hockey's Canada Cup - which repre- sents the world's best. Kathy's family who attended this international event, staged at the Ford theatre with a crowd of 5,060, wcrc obviously very proud that this country chose Knthy to represent the floral industry. Her representation was excellent, Canada placed 10th. The family as a whole however, was extremely dismayed that the T- A, knowing of this grand cvetlt prior, did not make further inquiries or pursue the outcome, which led to our family reporter (luckily for all concerned she attended) spending her evening frantically writing rather than enjoying, so the leaders of this paper could hear about the outcome. i feel the World Cup and Kathy's accomplishments were and are newsworthy enough for the T -A to have sent a rcportet a mere 150 miles to cover that event, or to have taken ,upon itself to have least done Please turn to page 7 1SO Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited Are your kids streetproofed? While we know the Block Parent program in this area is fairly well publicized, do chil- dren recognize them and know what to do if a problem arises? A recent press release from the University of Guelph suggests that children need more than warnings against strangers. Telling children not to take candy from strangers is an im- portant safety tip, but it's just not enough to ensure that they. are streetproofed. Researchers found many par- ents are taking their childrens' knowledge of safety information for granted. They should simu- late various emergency situa- tions withtheir children so they will know how to react in a cri- sis. A study of potentially danger- ous situations involving more than 60 parents and their chil- dren between the ages of five and 12 disclosed parents were not always good at predicting their childrens' rd ponses to danger. Although parents were fairly accurate in predicting their chil- drens' understanding of who strangers were and their trust in police officers, they were not accurate in predicting thcir chil- dren's knowledge of telephone and address numbers or their ability to act wisely in emergen- cy situations. The study indicated younger children in particular were less knowledgeable than parents be- lieved them to be. Parents stem to think their kids know more than they do, but haven't really practiced and tested the child in situations where there might be dangers. They should instruct their children in some basic at- home strectproofing methods. For example, parents should teach children how to call the op- erator in case of an emergency and give them opportunities to use the telephone and to under- stand what arca codes arc. Children between five and eight years of age may not fully under- stand that Block Parent homes are places where they will be pro- tected. It is suggested parents make a game of spotting Block Parent homes. fra, From the , editor's disk by Ross Haugh t Five-year-old children did not respond well when asked what to do if they got separated from their parents while shopping in a store or mall.Parcnts should sim- ulate emergencies with their chil- dren, going through the proce- dure of spotting a security guard, cashier or information desk so they will know where to go. Some parents are reluctant to allow their children to participate in fomial strectproofing training for fear they will become para- noid towards strangers. Studies indicate streetproofed children aren't any more nervous, cau- tious or suspicious than non- streetproofed children. All of this sounds like good ad- vice for parents in not only keep- ing their children aware of clan- gers, but what to do if a crisis arises. * * As most readers will learn from Jim Beckett's On the Street col- umn on the next page, - we won the weight reducing contest against three other employees of this newspaper. - We found exercising was the key ingredient in losing the 12 pounds over a two month period. That along with less ingredients at the table seemed to do the trick. Our exercising consisted main- ly of walks from one to two miles about four nights a week. After eight weeks of walking we know every dog in the police vil- lage of Crediton. That is by hark, not by hitt yet. Our course is sometimes altered slightly by the apparent presence of a canine. Jim didn't mention in his col- umn, that the day after the weigh-- in eigh-in the four contestants went out for lunch at the expense of thc winner. We went to a restaurant where one could eat all he wanted at a prescribed price. That helped to keep the cost down. Along with the lunch and free goodies at coffee break, we have spent more than one-third of the prize money. Couldn't go to a better cause than eating. Seriously though, we intend to keep up the exercising program and will report back in another four weeks on further progress. Shouldn't say we are still over-. weight, just too short for our weight Birthday parties If I ever had a birthday party when I was a kid, it must have been a pretty insignificant affair, because I don't remember anything about it. I wonder what our kids are going to remember of their birthdays. We have been "good parents". We have carefully planned and implemented our children's parties — till now that is. It was cute to have a bunch of cuddly three-year olds sit around the table, wearing pointed hats and stuffing their ever-loving mouths with birthday cake. It didn't matter how many kids were invited. After the kitchen floor was swept, the table and chairs scrubbed, and the balloon fragments retrieved from under the sofa cushions, the house was always liveable again. A birthday party for six-year olds was no problem either. As soon as the presents were unwrapped, a couple of games played, two darts extracted from the wall and one from a little girl's behind, we collected everybody, loaded them into two cars, and transported them to the Golden Arches. After stuffing them, we marched them to the bathroom one by one, cleaned •them up from top to bottom, and delivered them back to their parents, as good as new. When Alexander turned seven, we said this would be the last birthday party for him at our house. We said the same thing last year. When we planned this year's party, we used strategy instead of last-minute tactics. Management by Objectives instead of crisis management. "Alexander," Elizabeth approached him kindly but ever so firmly, "this year you have a choice between a sleigh ride, a swim at the Civic Centre, or a movie. You don't have to make up your mind right away, but we PETER'S POINT • want you to think about it and let us know in a couple of days." The response was instantaneous and uncompromising. "No, I want a party at our house." Have you ever had your house destroyed by a gang of 9 -year olds? Have you ever tried to control more than two 9 -year olds? Have you ever listened to a bunch of 9 -year old boys? If you have, you'll know what went through our heads. - "We have given you three choices which is more than I ever got," I said, and immediately I felt Elizabeth's elbow in my ribs before I could complete the tirade aboiit my own childhood. "I know," Alexander mimicked me, "you never had a birthday party, and they fed you gravel with cod liver oil all day and made you work in the coal mines ..." "You're mixing me up with Oliver Twist," I said, b u t Elizabeth saved the situation. "You have until six o'clock tonight to let us know, otherwise we'll make the decision for you." The compromise we reached later that day seemed fair enough. The number of guests was reduced from seventeen to three. There would be no party at home. But there would be skating, a movie and dinner at you know where. Give and take — the democratic way. Alexander didn't want his little brother and especially not his sister around during his birthday party. So I volunteered to stay home with Duncan and Stephanie, while Elizabeth took the four musketeers to town. I spent a reasonable afternoon with our very sensible 6 -year olds. Then I gave them supper, got them ready for and into bed without problems. They were both fast asleep when Elizabeth and Alexander came back. "Never again," was all that Elizabeth would say until Alexander was dispatched into dreamland. "What was it•like?" I inquired over a cup of tea. "I have aged five years," Elizabeth sighed, "and it has been an education for me." "In what subject?" "English and human biology." "Rough language?" "Some birthday party!" How do you handle birthday parties for 10 -year olds? I've been thinking about next year. Perhaps I'1I build a -corral in the back of our property. Alexander and his friends will be able to roam freely. We'll throw in a half a dozen pizzas, 10 kilos of chips, and a few cartons of coke. They can tell all their dirty jokes, get as messy as they want, and have the time of their lives. About four hours later, we'll open the gate and let the survivors out. Or do you have any better ideas?